Despite earnings beats, expectations dim for later quarters

April 23, 2015 4:44 PM

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Most U.S. companies so far this earnings season have managed to beat Wall Street profit forecasts despite weak sales, but investors hoping corporate headwinds have died down may need to temper their enthusiasm.

Of the 169 Standard & Poor's 500 companies that have reported so far, 71 percent beat earnings estimates, many of which were modest to begin with, Thomson Reuters data showed. But they did so with help from share buybacks, cost-cutting and other measures, instead of robust sales growth.